I wouldn’t mind getting some opinions on this base class:
LOOK
Absurd Life, Escape from the Mechanism, or The Sky Reflecting.
After-Dream, Halo of Nembutals, or Protoplasmic Bubbles.
Autumn, Summer, or Winter.
Human Body, Humanoid Body, or Inhuman Shape.
STATS
Your base damage is d6.
Your load is 8+STR.
Your maximum HP is 6+Constitution.
ORIGINS
You came here from somewhere else. Choose your origins and your Otherworld:
Created
You are an artificial being, made by someone or something—a mad scientist, a sentient ocean, or the best minds of a manufacturing planet, for example. When you defend someone else, you may use Isolation instead of CON. Your Otherworld could be your creators, a secret laboratory, the stuff your were created from, or the void of uncreation.
Outsider Summoned
You come from a place far away. When you’re in your element, you may defy danger with Isolation instead of another stat. Your Otherworld could be the astral plane, Dimension X, hyperspace, a completely unknown galaxy, or something equally strange.
Slave Enslaved
You are part of an oppressed underclass. When someone else has possession of your heart, you may hack and slash or volley with Isolation instead of STR or DEX. Your Otherworld could be a real place, an underground organization of slaves, or a fantasy world of hopes and dreams.
STARTING MOVES
You get these four moves:
Familiar Element
You find this world strange and unfamiliar, but there is one place where you feel at home. You’re in your element only when you’re… (choose one):
○ engaged in battle.
○ immersed in liquid.
○ in a tightly confined space.
○ in the bitter cold.
○ in total darkness.
○ in warm, direct sunlight.
○ making love.
When you enter your element, if someone else is with you, you also have the option of losing 1 Isolation.
While you’re in your element, take +1 ongoing. If you stay longer than a few hours, it counts as being attended by a healer, you can make camp without expending a ration, and you gain
+1 preparation.
Homesick
When you ask your Otherworld to provide you with something useful, roll+Isolation. On a hit, your home brings you something similar, either from itself or by seizing something from this galaxy. Either way, it is always marked by its Otherworldly-ness. On a 7-9, trouble comes with it also. On a miss, gain 1 Isolation.
Outsider
You are not from this place and you do not understand. Sometimes people here treat you like an outsider, and this only increases your sense of Isolation. In addition to how other moves affect your Isolation, the following is also true:
When someone makes you leave a location, group, or event against your will, gain 1 Isolation.
When someone rewards you for participating in a group event or endeavour, or for being a member of an organization, lose
1 Isolation.
When you lash out at someone who has treated you like an outsider and they fight you, lose 1 Isolation.
Your maximum Isolation is 3. When at your maximum Isolation, you take -1 ongoing. When at your maximum Isolation and you gain Isolation, instead choose one:
·You attack someone you care about, then lose 1 Isolation.
·You destroy or ruin a thing that someone else cares about, then lose 1 Isolation.
Tell-Tale Heart
Your heart fell into this galaxy and you came with it. appeared in this galaxy when you did. This heart of yours is small enough to be held in a person’s hands, and anyone can take possession of it. It cannot be destroyed. Describe it.
When someone gains possession of your heart, they dictate at least one change in your appearance. Your physical form in this galaxy is malleable, except for your tell, which is something related to your familiar element that is present and obvious no matter what you look like. Choose one or two visible signifiers that will make your identity obvious. The person who has possession of your heart, whether that’s you or someone else, can change any other aspect of your appearance whenever they want.
As long as someone else has possession of your heart, the following holds true as well:
When they tell you to do something, you take +1 forward to accomplish the task, and you can roll+Isolation if you must defy danger while doing so. If you do it and they don’t give you back your heart, gain 1 Isolation.
When you act directly against the person who has possession of your heart, lose 1 Isolation but if you make any moves while doing so you can’t add more than your Isolation to your roll, even if your stat is higher.
If someone gives you back your heart, lose all your Isolation.
ALIGNMENT
Chaotic: Get involved in a situation you don’t understand.
Good: Show someone that good can also come from your Otherworld.
Lawful: Learn something new about this galaxy.
GEAR
Your load is 8+STR.
Choose your armament:
·Bag of books (5 uses, 2 weight).
·Laser pistol (near, 1 weight) and radiation crystals (3 ammo, 1 weight).
·Ornate staff (reach, two-handed, 1 weight).
·Otherwordly gems (1 weight).
Choose your defences:
Adventuring gear Food from your home (5 uses, 1 weight).
·Personal vehicle.
·Towel.
BONDS
I found myself in trouble here, but ________ saved me.
I learned something important about this galaxy because of ________.
________ has caught a glimpse of my Otherworld.
________ held my heart in their hands, then gave it back to me.
________ reminds me of home, and I want to get closer.
I REALLY like the flavor and mechanical flow of this class. It’s weird and fun and captures the Otherworldly characteristic very well. I can see a variety of characters flowing from this concept. I’m curious to see how advanced moves would work with this.
I like it. It’s sort of a grab-bag of abilities mechanically (i.e. a bunch of +1s to different basic moves, which I’ve never hugely liked), but I’m guessing advances will give it a more unified direction. In terms of flavour, it’s nice and alien. It probably needs a note somewhere explaining what an Otherworld is in generic terms. Rather than adventuring gear (which is very mundane and doesn’t fit the theme IMO), I’d make that choice something like “X rations’ worth of [weird thing]” (i.e. edible rocks or whatever).
Also, personally, I’d use “Alienation” rather than “Isolation” (it’s more fitting, and also doubles as a pun).
How does the Tell-tale heart fit with the Created Origin?
A few more thoughts:
Fictionally, the Tell-tale Heart bugs me. The rest of the moves are about being a weird creature from elsewhere who doesn’t understand the here/now, whereas Tell-tale Heart feels more like something I’d expect specifically in a Construct playbook.
Maybe if I had a better idea of what the source/inspiration for the class is it would make more sense, but as it stands I’d say Tell-tale Heart should be an advance – it’s something the class should support (it lets you be a demon or djinn summoned to this world etc.) but as an option.
Alternatively, it seems like you could offer a choice between Tell-tale Heart and Homesick as starting moves (much like e.g. the Barbarian has a “choose one of these two” in the starting moves) – that would help unify things slightly in my mind, as you’d then be giving the choice between two different spins on a broadly similar concept (are you a creature from an alien dimension that still has contact with that dimension, or are you a creature summoned from elsewhere and held in thrall by another?).
Alex Norris Thank you. That’s the kind of perspective I was looking for (and the reason I didn’t include context). I’ll think on those points.
Paride Papadia Do they seem at odds to you?
It’s weird to have two things called Outsider (origin and move) but overall I love it.
Yeah, I should probably fix that.
Johnstone Metzger I can imagine the created as a Frankenstein monster, a hybrid man-beast, a cyborg, or a golem.
I don’t see a connection to the outer space, and while the Heart may fit the golem and the cyborg (kinda of a remote control), it doesn’t IMO fit the other two.
I agree with Alex Norris that there could be two weaknesses to choose from, one to control, while the other could be the need to spend time
alone in specific conditions to regain strenght (underground, electrical recharge, in the water, etc).
Familiar element chosen: ○ making love.
While you’re in your element, take +1 ongoing. If you stay longer than a few hours, it counts as being attended by a healer, you can make camp without expending a ration, and you gain +1 preparation.
Ladies watch out. I’m about to make camp.
I love it! I’ve been looking for a way to do realitypunk in dungeon world. Looks like I’ll be using Dungeon Planet instead.
I can imagine characters from The Matrix, Inception, A Beautiful Mind, Adaptation, Stranger Than Fiction, Naked Lunch, Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine, etc.
/sub
I am digging this immensely. The flavor is really provocative. I look forward to seeing more.
Really, this feels more like something that should be in Monsterhearts. Just the idea of a character that can be controlled by others but builds up Isolation by doing so seems to fit that setting very well.
Okay, some notes from me. My two main concerns with this are a) it IS rather complicated, and b) people who know what it is will know what it is, but my intended audience is larger than that.
The reason it’s complicated is that it’s got four main pillars: the Otherworld, the familiar element, the heart, and the isolation (although I think I will probably go with Alex’s suggestion of Alienation when I can get Therapy’s Joy Divison cover to stop hassling me). Conceptually, if I were to simplify, I would have to either ditch the Isolation stat or combine the Otherworld and the Familiar Element into one thing, neither of which really appeals to me.
In any case, I’ve made a few edits to the original post. Possibly more will change, but I’ve taken out a few conditionals from the starting moves, which I will move over to the advanced moves. The +1s and minus 1s are there entirely to influence player behaviour — the fiction-generating elements are supposed to be the description and Homesick. That said, I’m open to suggestions about alternatives methods.